Pat McAfee did what Keyshawn Johnson has yet to do.
He cleaned up his recent statements about Justin Jefferson.
Pat McAfee Reconciles Statement about Justin Jefferson
On Wednesday, the former NFLer and popular show host spoke about Dalvin Cook’s role in the NFL and how the free agent is still an elite player. He also made a curious comment regarding Justin Jefferson’s role in the Minnesota Vikings offense, “Dalvin Cook was their offense, like the reason why I think Justin Jefferson has all the things is because Dalvin Cook is in the backfield.”
The day before, Keyshawn Johnson ranked the league’s Top 5 wide receivers on his since-canceled radio show, and Jefferson didn’t crack the group. It’s been a weird week for Jefferson-themed opinions, indeed.
Well, a couple of days later, McAfee revisited the Jefferson topic on The Pat McAfee Show, guns blazing. “I have to talk to the Minnesota Vikings fans. Vikings fans were fu**ing attacking me. I had an article written about me and then quote tweeting, they started coming after me,” McAfee declared.
Jefferson is the NFL’s reigning Offensive Player of the Year, and the notion he ‘needed’ Cook to excel struck a chord — a bad one — with Vikings fans.
“I said while breaking down Dalvin Cook, I said he helps Justin Jefferson. I don’t know how I said it. I must’ve said it in a way — I haven’t listened to it back, so that’s 100% on me. I have massive respect for Justin Jefferson. I never said anything about Justin Jefferson not being incredible. I’m just talking about fundamentally, whenever there is a star missing from the field, that is going to change the way a defense looks at the whole thing.”
McAfee finished with an emphatic tweet about the kerfuffle, “I have MASSIVE respect for Justin Jefferson.”
On June 20th, a Green Bay Packers podcaster, Bruce Irons from Packers For the Win, tweeted a bizarre opinion, too, about Jefferson, “Christian Watson has a higher ceiling than Justin Jefferson.”
And for some reason or another, that appeared to spark a mini-barrage of strange ‘maybe Jefferson isn’t that good?’ statements from Johnson, McAfee, and others. In May, former NFL coach Marty Mornhinweg claimed a Jefferson contract extension with the Vikings would ‘damage’ the team.
Jefferson is expected to fetch that extension sometime in the near future. He told reporters at mandatory minicamp that he’d show up at training camp with or without an extension, and that event kicks off in three weeks.
The three-time Pro Bowler turned 24 last month.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.